Missing Saturday at ANA

Have you made your plans to go to the American Numismatic Association World’s Fair of Money yet?

I feel like I waited to the last minute this year.

My colleague Bob Van Ryzin and I made our plans and booked our flights at the end of last week.

This year’s convention is in Anaheim, Calif., home of Disneyland.

Last time I was there, at the 1995 event, I managed to be in town for a week and I did not set foot in the park. Even the fireworks at night startled me, as if I had forgotten where I was.

This year I am not likely to go to the theme park either. There is just too much to do on the ANA bourse floor during the day and at club meetings and dinners at night.

The ANA convention is something I most look forward to going to during the year. It is also the one I most dread going to because I usually come home in varying degrees of exhaustion.

Going out to California is also more difficult for those of us who call the Midwest home.

Trying to get a return flight on the final day of the convention turns into skipping the final day of the convention.

There really is no way to stop by the bourse and still get home to little old Iola, Wis., on the same day.

No offense to ANA, I decided – or rather my boss decided for me – that the expense of going to the bourse floor on Saturday just was not worth the expense of staying another night in Anaheim.

For me, that means one less day of potential exhaustion.

For you, if you plan to be there, it means there will be one less day where I can be found.

Perhaps you are coming back early as well. Collectors in much of the country are in the same boat I am.

Buzz blogger Dave Harper has twice won the Numismatic Literary Guild Award for Best Blog and is editor of the weekly newspaper "Numismatic News."